Granted, these ideas need developed, but it's a start.
In Volume I of Mansfield Park, Jane Austen seemingly locates the apex of power with Sir Thomas’s return to Mansfield Park, but this exercise of power—his displeasure that the residents should make alterations to the estate and perform a play—seems to be a practice of authorial misdirection. Also heightening the illusion that power rests in the hands of the patriarch is Fanny’s “punishment” for being disinclined to accept Henry Crawford’s proposal—of her being displaced to Portsmouth with hopes that its conditions will entice her to accede to marriage. What becomes much more interesting in terms of power relations is situating Fanny as the panoptic mechanism, the female gaze to which the characters are subject. No, she is neither omniscient nor omnipotent, but we may see her as having the most power amongst the characters via knowledge, record-keeping and regulating the dissemination of knowledge.
There are various instances when Fanny makes a deliberate choice to repress and regulate knowledge—perhaps most prevalent when Sir Thomas reproaches her for rejecting Henry’s proposal. He thinks she is ungrateful for the opportunities he has afforded in advancing her social status, reputation and economic/domestic security, but his sentiments are purely out of ignorance to the events and social behavior of the company when he was in Antigua, particularly Henry’s behavior with Julia and Maria: “[S]he considered how much of the truth was unknown to him…She must do her duty, and trust that time might make her duty easier than it now was” (335, 336). Fanny withholds the truth in an effort to contain the discord and antagonisms it would spread within the household. Thus, Fanny feels it is her moral duty to hyper-regulate her emotions. In this way, we may read her character as having the most power in her maintenance of social and domestic order within Mansfield Park.
In Volume I of Mansfield Park, Jane Austen seemingly locates the apex of power with Sir Thomas’s return to Mansfield Park, but this exercise of power—his displeasure that the residents should make alterations to the estate and perform a play—seems to be a practice of authorial misdirection. Also heightening the illusion that power rests in the hands of the patriarch is Fanny’s “punishment” for being disinclined to accept Henry Crawford’s proposal—of her being displaced to Portsmouth with hopes that its conditions will entice her to accede to marriage. What becomes much more interesting in terms of power relations is situating Fanny as the panoptic mechanism, the female gaze to which the characters are subject. No, she is neither omniscient nor omnipotent, but we may see her as having the most power amongst the characters via knowledge, record-keeping and regulating the dissemination of knowledge.
There are various instances when Fanny makes a deliberate choice to repress and regulate knowledge—perhaps most prevalent when Sir Thomas reproaches her for rejecting Henry’s proposal. He thinks she is ungrateful for the opportunities he has afforded in advancing her social status, reputation and economic/domestic security, but his sentiments are purely out of ignorance to the events and social behavior of the company when he was in Antigua, particularly Henry’s behavior with Julia and Maria: “[S]he considered how much of the truth was unknown to him…She must do her duty, and trust that time might make her duty easier than it now was” (335, 336). Fanny withholds the truth in an effort to contain the discord and antagonisms it would spread within the household. Thus, Fanny feels it is her moral duty to hyper-regulate her emotions. In this way, we may read her character as having the most power in her maintenance of social and domestic order within Mansfield Park.